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Topic Review (Newest First)

07-29-2013 11:41 AM

chucklesR

Re: Frustration unable to beat against steady wind & current Narr Bay

Beating at 45 degrees to current and wind while pinching along slowly just isn't efficient.
That's when the genny gets replaced with the iron genny and the mainsail becomes a stabilizer at 30 degrees.

My current ap says the max currents there are well under 1 knot in that area. Are there unplotted currents running much faster than predicted there or could it be the currents are much less than the 3 you estimated?
Other than Tiverton, I don't see anything very strong in all of the Naragansett.

07-28-2013 10:43 PM

outbound

Re: Frustration unable to beat against steady wind & current Narr Bay

Sail the same place. First year in r.I.so like you just learnng but find large variations in strength of current at different areas. Some places short tacking near the shore keeps you in less current. Other places seems staying in deep water near the shipping channel works best. Slowly figuring it out. Less of an issue for me given higher hull speed but still annoying. Might be fun to check out with what trim and sails you point highest at different wind speeds. And do that at slack or in open water. Also check that your leech line isn't too tight. So far for us in anything over 10kts.do better with smaller headsail(solent). Think your S2 may also get most of it's drive from the main.

07-28-2013 10:05 PM

aelkin

Re: Frustration unable to beat against steady wind & current Narr Bay

+1 each to Mark and Xort.
I have been in similar conditions to the ones you are describing...beating into short, choppy waves, finding progress mind-numbingly slow. (no current to speak of, but a 55-mile sail dead into the wind gets frustrating quickly...)
I used to feel that motor-sailing was akin to failure, but as has already been said, if you have somewhere to go, it can be the right choice...no shame in that. you can shorten sail, turn on the motor, and have the benefits of easier motion (b/c of sails), plus upwind pointing (b/c of motor). The only loss is the peace and quiet.

give yourself a break. It sounds like you did everything you could.

A

07-28-2013 09:34 PM

RobGallagher

Re: Frustration unable to beat against steady wind & current Narr Bay

Quote:

Originally Posted by JIvories

So many helpful suggestions here, thank you all. It probably was less than 3 kt current, but strong headwinds from our destination.

It is an S2 9.2A, and I guess sailing upwind is not her forte (I thought the Lewmar 30s were good). Clearly though, having a 155 genny on didn't help. My only other sail, a 135, tore and needs repair. Time to invest in a new 110? (swallow...) I hear new sails make a big difference in speed, or is that what the sailmakers tell you?

Clearly too we could have motorsailed. I have done that before and it went better.

I'm going to have to live with my mouse-powered 13hp Yan. Anything I could do to soup it up? Like one of those new 3 blade props that fold up? Does a 3 give you more speed or just power getting started?

Other than that, better planning. I could've avoided that combination of current and wind, just kept the downwind leg short, at least that day.

What happened is common for this part of New England. There are a couple of other things that may play a part. Your Yanmar could also be a little over propped. This seems to be common with 1970's (ish) motors.

I'm gonna go out on a limb and say the current was not exactly 3 knots. In deep water it could have been running even faster.

So you have a boat that cruises at about 5 knots going into a 3+ knot current. You also have 15 knots of headwind, if you are making 2+ knots you now have 17+ knots of headwind. You are lucky to make 2 knots and that is really crawling. Hell, you are lucky to be making 1 knot with the head wind and wave action.

Welcome to New England. I can leave for Block Island three hours later than my friends, who seem chronically oblivious to Eldridges, and they can't seem to understand how I get there at the same time as them. Or often, as my boat is a faster by design than theirs, sometimes I even arrive before them. And the entire trip should only take 2.5-4 hours if one leaves with the proper current.

07-28-2013 09:27 PM

Sal Paradise

Re: Frustration unable to beat against steady wind & current Narr Bay

What is it? A 2GM? There is nothing you can do about that mouse motor. One reason we let our old H31 go.

07-28-2013 09:06 PM

JIvories

Re: Frustration unable to beat against steady wind & current Narr Bay

So many helpful suggestions here, thank you all. It probably was less than 3 kt current, but strong headwinds from our destination.

It is an S2 9.2A, and I guess sailing upwind is not her forte (I thought the Lewmar 30s were good). Clearly though, having a 155 genny on didn't help. My only other sail, a 135, tore and needs repair. Time to invest in a new 110? (swallow...) I hear new sails make a big difference in speed, or is that what the sailmakers tell you?

Clearly too we could have motorsailed. I have done that before and it went better.

I'm going to have to live with my mouse-powered 13hp Yan. Anything I could do to soup it up? Like one of those new 3 blade props that fold up? Does a 3 give you more speed or just power getting started?

Other than that, better planning. I could've avoided that combination of current and wind, just kept the downwind leg short, at least that day.

07-28-2013 05:32 PM

xort

J
Were you motorsailing? Couldn't tell from your post.
Seems we do a ton of motorsailing whenever we want to get somewhere.
One thing it does is change apparent wind so you can pinch upwind more.

07-28-2013 12:52 PM

rbyham

Re: Frustration unable to beat against steady wind & current Narr Bay

Should have added we had all sail up and sheeted in tight. The buoys were winning at first but we eventually won the day. :-)

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